1696 Tasting Notes

Dry this smells intensely of lime. Hot it is lime, lemon, and ginger. Once it cools it becomes more ginger, lemon/lime. The ginger packs some heat. I still don’t know what green rooibos tastes like. It seems to fill in all the flavor voids in the cup. I think I most detect it as a sweet grassy aftertaste. There is licorice root in this. It only adds a tiny amount of sweetness. Halfway through the cup I added a little sweetener to see how it would react. No problem, though it added nothing but sweetness. It is not something I would drink much of, but I can see this being fun for fans of lime and ginger.

Looks like most of the reviews on this are a couple years old. Most complained about the lack of matcha and the sweetness. Greanted, the name is confusing, matcha is the last ingredient, green tea the first. On the other hand, does anyone really expect a tea bag to be able to hold matcha? Well, not after I thought about it. The sweetness is from licorice root and stevia (I know almost as hated as hibiscus).

The dry bag has a vanilla orange scent. The steeped tea smells like root beer to me. The taste is orange creamsicle with a ginger finish. Personally, I like the sweetness. I like the creamsicle, and I like the light ginger bite. It is like drinking sugary orange soda without the calories. I would not want this everyday but find it kind of a fun drink. If I had another bag I would try it iced because I think it would be pretty neat that way.

Probably available at your Walmart. I’m going against the flow and giving a thumbs up for this bagged tea.

Yep, its a tea bag. The however is there is 2.25g/bag. For reference Twinings has 2g. Stash generally has 1.7g and the last Republic of Tea I tried was a piddly 1.33g. This makes a nice milk chocolaty mug. I can’t single out the other ingredients except the chilis. I love hot and spicy but this really isn’t. After you sip chocolate the end sip has a warm glow. Definitely not melt your face. Just a little warmth. I left the bag in the mug and it never became bitter or overly strong. Is it the best tea ever? Of course not, but I did enjoy it. If you like a little heat. this is a good everyday bagged tea.

You know you have too much tea when you find a Sun Moon Lake sample at the bottom of the stack boxes. I can understand losing a lesser tea but few teas hit all my buttons like Taiwan Sun Moon Lake black tea. Dry it smells of cocoa, honey, kind sweet potato, with a Darjeeling like muscatel. The whole mix has a baked quality to the scent. Mmmmm.

Tasting is similar to the scent. It is an easy sip that builds to what I am going to call a presence. It isn’t a hefty bite. Its more refined than the raw bite of some teas.

The second cup had me mentally thinking cinnamon candy. It is so sweet and feels syrupy on the lips. The cinnamon image is welcome but weird, in that there is not so much a cinnamon taste, and certainly no cinnamon burn, but the image remained after several sips. I love when a tea does that kind of magic trick. Even in the second cup I still catch grape notes under the cinnamon, honey, sweet potato.

Rosali Tea is just launching a monthly subscription service. I received this and a milk oolong for review. When I opened the box and saw hibiscus on the label, I went eeuuuwww, hibiscus. When I opened the bag to sniff, I expected a tart blast. Instead I got this incredible vanilla orange scent. I poured out a spoon of leaf and immediately saw rooibos. That is often another red flag as it can be throat scratchy rough. I could not smell it until after I steeped. Even then it is light and its sweetness fills in around the orange and vanilla. I see hibiscus. I do not taste hibiscus. I added a little sweetener for science. Holy Wow! This is unquestionably the best blend I have ever tried with either hibiscus or rooibos. So very good.

Having now sampled somewhere in the neighborhood of 100 unflavored matcha ranging from $20/lb to $48/oz, this one remains my favorite. Best part is, this is one of the least expensive. I can actually enjoy this straight without additives. It really shines as a cold milk latte. Today I added just a splash of vanilla and caramel syrup along with a packet of Splenda. It was out of this world good. I used my handy dandy battery operated frother which easily whipped this into a thick and creamy consistency. It was so thick the tumbler straw stood up straight. The taste is floral and kind of a green oolong with orchid notes. Maybe it was the syrups that brought this out or maybe I had just forgotten but this had a nutmeg flavor to it this morning. I am glad I have a pound of this in my freezer. So good.

This is very nice. The dry scent is typical of silver needle yet the taste is a little different. It is clean and crisp. It is sweet. Not at all bitter. Instead of a hay and cucumber profile, this one leans a little more towards green. It has floral/fruity notes. I also catch fast and light hints of minty. I steeped for the recommended 4 minutes at 175F. Had I gone short steeps at slightly higher temp, it would almost certainly turn out differently. As prepared the flavor is bold for a white tea and has plenty of depth. I feel refreshed and relaxed after sipping. Teasenz sells some pretty good tea.

Celebrating national coffee day with my Earl Grey of choice. I’m sure you understand. Don’t even care that none go with me, this still speaks to me after all these years. My yardstick earl.

On a side note, I am so stiff today I can barely maneuver. Went out on the porch Sunday night around 11 pm to get a look at the super blood moon. Of course didn’t turn on a light and didn’t have my cane. Tripped on the mat at the steps. Fell on my face (on the porch). I might add, I was in my underwear as I live out in the boonies. So here is this fat boy sprawled out on the porch and after realizing I wasn’t broken, found myself thinking next time I wear pants! Saddest part is I couldn’t really see the moon through the trees.

Will you forgive me if I chuckle a little bit at this one? (I gave my husband a t-shirt that says ‘I DO ALL MY OWNSTUNTS’. Mercy is not one of my spiritual gifts.) Glad you could live to sip tea another day!

I read through some of the reviews on this one. The majority seemed to think this captured the essence of pumpkin pie. I had it as a cold milk latte. My opinion is it gets pumpkin spice but does not capture the pie filling or crust. It more reminds me of a powdered chai mix a friend and I use to buy. Really sweet and heavy on the spice. Liked it fine but it is not pie. I will try Sil’s suggestion of adding French Vanilla matcha.

It is fall already. Where did summer go? We are getting some really cool nights and some awesome warm days with very low humidity. The leaves are turning. This made me crave white peony. I don’t know if others feel this way but white peony just feels fall to me. It tastes dark but feels light. The leaf on this one is very lovely and smells like fall with touches of honey and melon thrown in. The brew is honey colored and just goes with the sunshine. The taste is pronounced for a white tea. Of course light by assam standards. It is deep woods leafy with honey drizzled lightly on top. While it has a natural sweetness it isn’t overly sweet. A really nice example of the type.